There are few things as wonderful as an egg salad sandwich on a summer Friday when you’re not working and everyone else is.
Yum!
Today is, I thought, one of those “salad days.”
Because, as with many turns of phrases, I am using “salad days” incorrectly.
(I will occasionally say someone is “over the moon” when they are very, very angry, and I once advised a new mother not to “throw the baby out with the bathwater” which I thought was darned good advice.)
And, so I thought “salad days” simply meant good days.
Like seeing an Orioles walk-off home run against the Oakland A’s last Saturday … or, that whole egg salad sandwich thing.
Chris Davis. Home Run Swing.
Turns out, these are not salad days after all.
“Salad days,” as Shakespeare meant it and as you probably already understand it, are the days of youthful naiveté when things were good and we were green – just fallen off the turnip truck. (Fun Fact: “Just fell off the turnip truck”? Not Shakespearean, but popularized by Johnny Carson … so, Carsonian.)
Salad days are the frivolities of our youth.
So, today’s egg salad sandwich? Not a “salad day.”
But, maybe Baltimore’s four wins against the Oakland A’s last weekend – outscoring them 34-13 – were salad days after all.
Because, for a brief moment we O’s fans believed we had the post-season in the bag.
me.
Playing a worked-over, tired-out, reeling team like this year’s A’s will do that to you. You forget the worked-over, tired-out, reeling part and you just jump up and down every time you win.
Such carefree, naïve fans were we.
(Although a little credit here. Our salad days did include a win over Sonny Gray.)
But, not all teams are reeling and you can’t play Oakland every day.
In fact, the O’s have pretty much seen the last of the reelers this season. And, today, they’re a half-game back for the second Wild Card.
Ahhh … the Salad Days of last Saturday.
Look how happy we were!
Jonathan Schoop. Second Base.
Miguel Gonzalez. Starting Pitcher.
Raise Your Hand If You Want To Go To The World Series. Steve Clevenger. Catcher.
And, Gerardo Parra, too!
Parra, the new O’s outfielder, is doing the Wave with the fans!
I know. I didn’t believe it either. That’s why I watched him do it two more times when the Wave came through the outfield bleachers. And, he did it each time.
I love Mr. Parra. Can we keep him?
Watch the walk-off home run here.
And, what are salad days without pie? Meaningless.
Watch here.
You know that egg salad? It wasn’t so great. First, the bread was sliced top to bottom, not on a diagonal, as perfect sandwiches are. And, it’s kind of made my stomach funny. Also, no pickle. What’s up with that? Although it was wrapped in deli paper, which is always a nice touch.
And, the Orioles?
Sure, they’ve only won one game since Oakland left town. Sure, there are some awfully good, surging teams that they will need to elbow out of the way to get into the post-season.
But, you know what they say – it ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings.
Not fat. Not over.
Photos: Oakland A’s vs. Baltimore Orioles. Camden Yards. August 15, 2015. © The Baseball Bloggess
The Baseball Bloggess 
Great post, as usual. Hey, you take some awesome photos. What camera and lenses are you using?
Thanks for stopping by Greg. When I’m shooting at UVa games or smaller games where I can move about then I use a Nikon 5200, usually with a Nikkor 55-300mm, f 4.5/5.6 lens. Nothing fancy. It works well, but isn’t my dream lens.
But, when I go to Orioles games, when I’ll be a bit far from the action (even with good seats), and I have far less ability to move around, and don’t want to have my camera doused in someone’s Natty Boh, I’ll happily revert to my Nikon P-520 with its super zoom lens. A lot of good photographers will wrinkle their nose at a point-and-shoot … but it’s pretty versatile. And, there are nice manual controls. The aperture is terrible for all but macro shots, but the shutter control allows you a good bit of flexibility. Not the best for capturing the shot of a lifetime, but if you just want to prove to your friends that Gerardo Parra was doing the Wave with the fans out in right field … it does the job right well.
Wow, just goes to show you it’s the photographer and and the camera! I have the same lens (on a Canon) plus some other shorter lenses, but yours are better. I looked up the specs on your Nikon and that’s an amazing zoom. Like you, the zoom is not my dream lens but I can’t justify dropping $2k or more to upgrade. But the Nikon sounds like a fantastic alternative! That’s a great little camera!
Sorry I meant to say “and NOT the camera!” I am distracted by Car Talk this morning.
P.S. Last summer I wrote some posts about fans … and I surveyed all 30 parks for interesting rules about what fans can and can’t do — or bring — to games. Many parks have specific rules on what size camera lens you can bring to the game …
“The Angels and Dodgers invite you to bring your crappy cameras and iPhones, but no lenses that are longer than 4” (Angels) or 6” (Dodgers), please. The Tampa Rays allow lenses that are 12”. (The better to fully capture the Trop’s Teflon roof.) The Yankees invite you to bring whatever size lens you like.”
Here’s the whole post: https://thebaseballbloggess.com/2014/08/03/fan-tastic-part-2/
The P520 is several years old, so their newer models are even more robust — some are even zoomier — and get great overall reviews. Again, you’ll never match it against a true DSLR, but it does the trick. The new P900 looks really good and has an 83x optical zoom. No RAW options on these models, and while the photos are fine for blogs and the internet, you can tell the difference when you print them out if you’re fussy about things. That said, I continue to learn ways to tweak the P520 to improve the photo quality.
And, I do love my 5200, too … though, like you, I’m still dreaming about having that one perfect lens! Although they always say your legs are your best zoom, I’m not sure that works when you’re trying to shoot a baseball game. :)
Thanks for your kind words … I have really tried to capture the essence of the players and the fans when I’m at a game. Of course, for every good shot, there are at least 20 lousy ones. And, usually one dumb luck one. I like the way you use photos to tell the story of your visits to ballparks. Fortunately, in the digital world we can shoot all day, can’t we … and not spend a penny on film!
A couple of great tailgating treats I’ve sampled: Pickled asparagus (which you’ve undoubtedly sampled or made, and smoked deviled eggs. Egg salad needs a pickle, that touch of dill. We’ll see how the Os do these next three games vs. the Twins; Duffy has a filthy curve ball.
Egg salad, I’ve decided, is something you eat maybe once a year. I think there were a dozen eggs in that sandwich …
As they say, you are one in a million!
Awww … Gloria, you’re the bee’s knees!
Egg salad is good. Chicken salad, good. Tuna salad, okay. Potato salad, awesome. Salad salad… I can take it or leave it.
And, then there are the awful salads … Waldorf and Jell-O and Aspic (the savory Jell-O) … well, really any salad that requires a mold or miniature marshmallows or a can of fruit cocktail.
You’re right. Potato Salad is the winner.